Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Check out the new SourceForge HTML5 internet speed test! No Flash necessary and runs on all devices. ×

Submission + - How ITT Tech Screwed Students and Made Millions (gizmodo.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: This is a grim story about a company that screwed poor people, military veterans, and taxpayers to turn a profit. It includes shocking details about the inner-working of the for-profit college including stuff like this:

"ITT recruiters even manipulated prospective students using pain-based sales techniques. Recruiters used a sales strategy called the “Pain Funnel” that encouraged them to ask progressively more hurtful questions to get prospective students to enroll in the school."

Submission + - Accenture Wants A Blockchain Editing Tool

Submitted by Mickeycaskill
Mickeycaskill writes: One of the core principles of Blockchain technology has potentially been undermined by the creation of an editing tool.

The company responsible however, Accenture, says edits would only be carried out “under extraordinary circumstances to resolve human errors, accommodate legal and regulatory requirements, and address mischief and other issues, while preserving key cryptographic features.”

Because Blockchain is effectively run by a network of unrelated computers, it produces a permanent ledger of transactions with which no one can tamper. Until now.

Accenture’s move to create an editing system will no doubt be viewed by some technology observers as a betrayal of what blockchain technology is all about. But the company insisted it is needed, especially in the financial services industry.

“The prototype represents a significant breakthrough for enterprise uses of blockchain technology particularly in banking, insurance and capital markets,” said Accenture.

Comment Re:No (Score 2) 296

by bmimatt (#52395063) Attached to: Is The Future Of Television Watching on Fast-Forward?

One-thousand times no.

I work in tech and routinely watch technical content. Mostly videos from conferences, meetups, howtos, etc. I do it at 1.5x most of the time, sometimes 2x. This is because I am looking for interesting (to me) bits such as interesting (novel, unorthodox, etc) solutions or just want to quickly rehash key points of things I haven't dealt with in a while. It saves me time and I still can accomplish what I set out to. What is wrong with my approach? Care to elaborate?

Comment Re:I'm leaning toward the 20 years estimate (Score 1) 381

by bmimatt (#52092759) Attached to: Slashdot Asks: How Long Before Self-Driving Cars Become Mainstream?

... We can certainly get there, but it isn't going to be cheap for a while yet.

Indeed. Furthermore, it will require a number of subsystems responsible for data collection and processing to be implemented in HA fashion. Possibly on both hardware and software level. Short of that, a SPOF could lead to some nasty scenarios. That means significantly higher production/maintenance costs than a comparable 'standard' car. I for one enjoy driving my car myself and have no interest in swapping it for a self-driving one until the day I can completely disconnect from the driving part without rational fear. Sort of like I normally would when boarding a commercial airliner.

Submission + - The Global Decline in Manufacturing Jobs (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Koreantoast
Koreantoast writes: The New York Times posted an interesting thought piece on the changing nature of manufacturing globally and the impact it has on modern politics and economic development. Although manufacturing productivity has jumped tremendously over the last several decades, the overall global pool of manufacturing jobs is shrinking as automation and new industrial technologies has increased the production and supply of manufactured goods with fewer people at a rate faster than global demand can absorb. The analogy is the agricultural revolution of the last several centuries where greater amounts of food are being produced by fewer and fewer farmers, displacing many of them. How will industrialized nations manage the growing number of displaced, blue collar labor? Bigger impact globally is that the shrinking pool of manufacturing jobs globally is closing the traditional route of export-oriented manufacturing economy that many nations, particularly in East Asia, were able to use to lift their nations out of poverty. What happens to those nations that missed the boat?

Submission + - Almost two-thirds of software companies contributing to open source (networkworld.com)

Submitted by alphadogg
alphadogg writes: Open source’s march toward preeminence in business software continued over the past year, according to a survey https://www.blackducksoftware.... released by open source management provider Black Duck Software and venture capital firm North Bridge. Roughly two-thirds of respondents to the survey – which was administered online and drew 1,300 respondents – said that their companies encouraged developers to contribute to open-source projects, and a similar proportion said that they were actively engaged in doing so already. That’s a 5% increase from the previous year’s survey.

Submission + - Voltage Pictures Launches Canadian BitTorrent Lawsuit With Reverse Class Action (michaelgeist.ca) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Michael Geist reports that Voltage Pictures, which previously engaged in a lengthy court battle to require Canadian ISPs to disclose the names of alleged file sharers, has adopted a new legal strategy. This week, the company filed an unusual application in Canadian federal court, seeking certification of a reverse class action against an unknown number of alleged uploaders of five movies using BitTorrent. The use of reverse class actions is very rare in Canada and raises a host of legal concerns.

Slashdot Top Deals

No man is an island if he's on at least one mailing list.

Close